Welcome to Arrest Stories. A nineteen-year-old from Danville, Ohio has been arrested in connection with an alleged terror plot targeting a UFC event on the White House lawn. Heres what may have happened.
On June tenth, two thousand twenty six, the Knox County Sheriff's Office and Danville Police Department received a call from the mother of Tycen Proper, nineteen, of Danville, Ohio, a small village in Knox County with a population of about one thousand people. She expressed concern about her son's recent conduct, including firearms purchases and his communications with individuals he had met online.
When Knox County sheriff's officers arrived at the family home, they allegedly found thousands of rounds of ammunition, an assault-style rifle, and a bullpup rifle, purchased on June fifth, painted with an American flag. FBI task force officer Christopher Betts wrote in a court affidavit that the equipment was turned over voluntarily by the family to law enforcement.
Proper was taken to a local hospital for emergency admission based on homicidal ideations. The following day, the sheriff's office contacted the FBI.
Proper's mother told investigators her son had recently begun interacting with a group online that was comprised of individuals who claimed to be ex-military and Christian-based. The group, known on TikTok as Vanguard of the Old, believed the United States needed to be torn down so that it could be rebuilt. His family also reported that Proper had been making sympathetic comments about Adolf Hitler and posting anti-Semitic comments on Facebook.
Proper's father told investigators that Proper had recently spent three thousand dollars of his graduation money on camping gear, ballistic plates, a new shotgun, lots of ammunition, extra magazines, and plate carriers. Proper had planned to leave the weekend of June thirteenth to meet with the people he had connected with online.
A search warrant covering Proper's phone revealed Signal chats laying out detailed plans for an attack on Washington, D.C., including imagery of the National Capitol Region and maps highlighting sniper locations and potential drone launch locations.
When FBI Cincinnati agents interviewed Proper, he admitted to planning a coordinated attack during the UFC Freedom two fifty event scheduled for June fourteenth on the White House South Lawn. According to the affidavit, the plan called for the group to stage a demonstration on the north side of the White House while, as the court document states, the group would fly small, unmanned aircraft laden with unspecified explosive devices which would detonate over the north side of the UFC arena. The intent was to force the crowd and high value targets to evacuate to the south, where group members would be positioned as snipers and additional shooters. According to Proper, this attack was designed to jumpstart a revolution in the United States.
Proper told investigators he was not planning to attend in order to shoot people, but acknowledged that several other members of the group were intent on violence. The affidavit states that when a woman asked Proper what he was doing, he said he couldn't tell her exactly what he was doing, but that they were looking at multiple different locations and intended to conduct recon as well as hit and run missions.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, including field offices in Kansas City, San Diego, and Sacramento, investigated the case. FBI Director Kash Patel stated that on June tenth, the FBI and law enforcement partners became aware of the potential threat, adding that thanks to the rapid action of this FBI, our partners, and the Department of Justice in a multi-state operation, multiple individuals are now in custody and allegedly planned attacks were stopped cold. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said his agency worked around the clock to identify those responsible and hold them accountable.
Five people are currently in custody. Two additional suspects, Michael Alan Thomas and Bryan Omar Roa, both from Southern California, were arrested and appeared in a Riverside courtroom. Other suspects were arrested in Missouri and Nebraska. Specific names were identified in court documents.
Proper faces charges including conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, attempted murder of a federal officer or employee, and multiple firearms violations. He is currently being held in the Franklin County jail after a federal magistrate judge ordered him detained. A further hearing was scheduled for June seventeenth.
Social media posts from Knox County Career Center indicate Proper was a senior there during the two thousand twenty five to twenty twenty six school year, attending out of Danville High School and studying landscape design and management. He graduated in spring two thousand twenty six.
All suspects presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Do not take this report as factual, always verify facts. Thanks for watching Arrest Stories.